


Kittens under the Moon

by MissingNickname



Category: Pentatonix, Superfruit
Genre: Did I Mention Fluff, Gen, Little children and kittens, M/M, Soul Mate AU, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 03:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7784092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissingNickname/pseuds/MissingNickname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mom has told little Mitch about soul mates in his bedtime stories. Now, he won't think of anything else.<br/>Understanding how these things work is hard for a little boy but he's getting there, in his own way.<br/>With a little help from some kittens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kittens under the Moon

“Mom?”  
“Yes, sweetheart?”  
“Tell me the story about soul mates again, please, mommy!”, the little boy begged as his mother sat down on the edge of the bed.  
She pulled the blanket up to his chin and ruffled his hair affectionately.  
“Oh honey, again? Don’t you want to hear the story of the little bear and his friends? I already told you about soul mates yesterday!  _And_  the day before that.”  
“Nooo, mom, please! One more time!”  
“Okay, then, little prince, listen closely. Maybe next time you can help me tell the story; I bet you already know it by heart!”  
Mitch looked up at his mother with shining eyes and a huge smile.  
“Okay mommy!”  
“So, for a very, very long time people have known about soul mates. Everybody in the world has a person they are meant to be with.”  
“Forever?”  
“Yes, little prince, forever.”  
“Are daddy and you soul mates?”  
“Yes, we are.”  
The little boy smiled brightly and gripped the edges of his blanket, completely fascinated. “But how did you know you are soul mates?” he asked, like every time.  
And like every time, his mom pulled up the right sleeve of her blouse and showed him the intricately drawn marking in the crook of her arm.  
“This is my soul mark. Your daddy has the same one, so we knew we belonged to each other as soon as we saw these marks.”  
Just like the countless times he had heard about soul mates before, Mitch began to chew on his lower lip and looked up with big, anxious eyes.  
“But I don’t have a soul mark. Does that mean I have to be alone forever?”  
His mother laughed quietly and pulled him into a hug. This game of question and answer had become somewhat of a ritual since Mitch had started learning about soul mates.  
“No, Mitchie, don’t worry about that! Remember what I told you? When you meet your soul mate for the first time, you are the one who gives them their soul mark. Just as they will give you yours.”  
“But hoooow?” the little boy asked with huge eyes, as bewildered as he’d been the first time.  
His mother smiled mysteriously.  
“You never know that before, little prince. Maybe you will just take a pen and draw it on their arm and then there you are - with a soul mate!”  
“So I can draw on anyone to make them my soul mate?” Mitch giggled.  
His mother joined his laughter.  
“No, sweetheart, that is not quite how it works. But one day, you will see that for yourself. Right now, it’s time to sleep. Give mommy a goodnight-kiss!”  
She tucked him in again, brushed his hair back and kissed him on the forehead.  
“Goodnight, little prince!”

__________

Mitch woke up in the middle of the night because he was cold. He’d kicked his blanket down to the floor while dreaming. Sleepily, he got up to retrieve it.  
The moon was shining brightly and bathed his room in a soft, silvery light. Mitch climbed back onto his bed; blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and knelt down in front of the window.  
Thoughtfully, he looked up into the sky. The world was complicated.  
But never more so than when it came to soul mates.  
Ever since his mom had first told him, he’d wondered. When would he meet his soul mate? Who would it be?  
He hoped it would be somebody nice. He hoped he wouldn’t miss the right person when he met them. It had taken him weeks of careful consideration to determine that none of the girls from kindergarten was his soul mate. This whole “meant to be” business was really difficult.  
“Can  _you_  see my soul mate?” he quietly asked the moon. But the moon remained silent; far, far away in the starry sky.  
  
On an impulse, Mitch got up again and tiptoed out of his room. The floor was cold under his naked feet and he shuddered, but when he silently slipped out into the backyard, warm summer air surrounded him. A gentle breeze touched upon his face.  
He breathed in deeply. The night smelt sweet, like the flowers in the neighbors’ garden.  
He liked the neighbors. They were two old ladies with many, many flowers in their backyard, who always smiled and waved over the fence when they saw him play outside. Sometimes, they would give him sweets (mommy had said it was okay to take them) or even some ice cream and talk to him endlessly. He didn’t understand everything they said and it could get quite boring but his parents always told him to be polite (and the sweets were nice), so he’d always stand at the fence and nod and smile until he could get away to play again.  
Sometimes, though, they told him very interesting things. Once, they’d even showed him their matching soul marks.  
But the absolutely best thing was that they had a cat.  
A majestic lady-cat with soft fur and glowing eyes. And kittens.  
There was nothing in Mitch’s world he loved more than playing with the kittens. They trusted him and came to him when he called them and he could tell them all apart.  
  
Now, at night, the cat-family was wide awake. He softly called out the names he had given the kittens and giggled when they came over on their little cat feet and rubbed their soft heads against his bare ankles.  
His favorite, a fluffy black boy-cat with green eyes, tried to climb up one leg of his pajama pants and he gently picked it up.  
He held it against his shoulder with one hand and pointed at the sky.  
“Look! This is the moon.” The kitten meowed and stretched out a paw, trying to reach his fingers.  
“The moon is veeery big and veeeery far away. It is sailing through the sky on ships made of clouds and visits all the stars, one by one” he explained earnestly.  
The black kitten meowed again and he put it down. Instead, he picked up its gray sister so she could see the moon, too.  
“The moon can see everything. When it shines like this, it says hi to us. Say hi to the moon!”  
Only when he’d showed the moon to every kitten in the yard did he say goodbye and go inside again.

________

At breakfast next morning he had a very important question for his mom. He had thought about soul mates all night and now, he had a new concern.  
“Mom?”  
“What is it, little prince?”  
“You said maybe I will draw the soul mark on my soul mate one day, right?”  
“Yes, that’s right, honey.”  
“But…” Mitch chewed on his lower lip and played with the hem of his shirt. “I can’t draw very well” he then mumbled. “I don’t want my soul mate to be mad at me because I’ve drawn an ugly soul mark…”  
The hearty laughter of his parents startled him. He looked up, confused and a tiny bit insulted.  
“Oh Mitchie” his mom said, wiping her eyes and pulling him into a tight hug. “Don’t worry about that, little prince. Soul marks have something to do with fate; and one day you will give your soul mate exactly the mark you’re supposed to give them, and it will be beautiful.”  
She kissed him on the cheek, straightened his shirt and got up.  
“Now, stop worrying and have a fun time in kindergarten! I will pick you up in the afternoon!”

________

There was a new boy in kindergarten.  
He was older than Mitch - he already belonged to the big kids! - and taller and had bright blond hair. His eyes were the bluest eyes Mitch had ever seen.  
And somehow, he didn’t know why, the new boy kept invading his thoughts. Mitch admired him immensely, he quickly decided.  
The new boy could reach the upper part of the toy shelf without the help of a chair, dared to climb to the top of the monkey bars; and he knew how to write every letter of the alphabet!  
Sadly, all the other big kids liked the new boy, too. And the big kids never played with the younger ones like Mitch. So Mitch spent his day sitting in a corner, shyly watching the blond boy and wishing he had the courage to actually go and say hello. He didn’t dare to do that, though, so he drew pictures of kittens and the moon, instead. All the kittens in his pictures had blue eyes.  
  
Suddenly, someone touched his shoulder. “Hey!”  
Mitch startled and bumped into the table. All his sharpies fell down to the floor. He looked up and went bright red. “H-hi!”  
Next to him stood the new boy. “Can I borrow some of your sharpies?”  
“Oh yeah… sure” Mitch mumbled and dived under the table to pick them up again. “But I need the blue ones!” he added as an afterthought.  
“Why, what are you drawing?”  
“My kitten friends! Last night I showed them the moon!” Mitch excitedly grinned, and suddenly his shyness was gone as he got wrapped up in describing every single kitten to the new boy, who listened in utter fascination.  
  
Mitch wasn’t sure  _how_  it happened, but they spent the whole rest of the day in his corner, drawing, talking, giggling and brotherly sharing his sharpies, the paper and the space on their arms once all the paper was used up.  
When their moms arrived to pick them up, they were covered in colors from the fingertips to the shoulders. They were reluctant to say goodbye to each other.  
The new boy grabbed the green sharpie and his last drawing and timidly asked “What’s your name?” “Mitch” Mitch answered while his mum tied his shoelaces. The new boy scribbled something onto the paper, tongue poking out in concentration. Then, he handed Mitch the picture.  
“It’s for you. This is you and these are your kittens. And this is me. I’m Scott. See you tomorrow!”

___________

In the car, his mum read to Mitch what Scott had written on the picture:  
“FOR MiTcH. FRoM ScoTT.”

___________

They spent the evening trying to wash the sharpie off Mitch’s arms. After huge amounts of soap and endless scrubbing, everything had come off - except for a cryptic little doodle Scott had made near the crook of Mitch’s elbow.  
  
That night, Mitch earnestly sat up in his bed when his mom came to say goodnight.  
“Mom?”  
“Yeah, little prince?”  
“Tonight I can tell you a story!”  
“Okay then. Go ahead!”  
“When two people are meant for each other, they are soul mates. Soul mates like each other very, very much. They know they are soul mates when they see each other, and they have the same soul mark, ‘cause they draw it on their soul mate when they meet.”  
“That’s right, little prince. Why did you tell me that?”  
“Because I know how it works, now!”  
“Really, little prince?”  
“Yeah! See, Scott and I used waterproof markers and now we have the same soul mark! I know that boys can be soul mates with boys, too. Or girls with girls; like Mrs. and Mrs. Calvados next door! And now Scott and I are soul mates!”  
His mom laughed brightly as Mitch went on and on about all the things the “big boy” Scott could do. At Mitch’s request she put Scott’s drawing up above his bed. And when the little boy had finally talked himself tired, she tucked him in, kissed him goodnight and got up.  
She was at the door when Mitch spoke up one last time.  
“Mom?”  
“Yes, little prince?”  
“Can I be a princess, too?”  
“You can be whatever you want, little princess. Sweet dreams!”

_________

The waterproof marker never washed off again.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Somewhen in December, Mitch tweeted this:  
> "when I was little we had a bunch of cats that hung out in our backyard and I would pick the kittens up and show them the moon (???)"  
> It was just too precious to not write about.  
> Hope you enjoyed it, and have a wonderful day/night (with moonshine and kittens, hopefully)!


End file.
